Group members: Jaime Botelho Makayla Proffit I. Info from Savage Inequalities: A. Education Problems
Martin Luther King School was filled with sewage problems and many kids had to be evacuated.
East St.Louis was overcrowded and students did not have enough supplies.
B. Community Problems a. Health Problems
The soil is polluted with chemicals surrounding the neighborhoods
The waters nearby are all polluted from the chemical plants.
Some houses have lead paint and there have been cases of lead poisoning.
b. Social Problems
East St. Louis is secluded from the rest of society, and residents were at one point not even allowed to cross the bridge to the neighboring white town.
The children were fully aware of what was going on in the world around them.
Some of the kids talked about their friend and sister being raped and killed like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
The government itself wouldn't help with the funding of the schools unless the black mayor stepped down (even racism in the political aspects).
The environment as a whole is no place for children.
The nicest buildings were bars, strip clubs and whore houses.
II. New Info: A. Education
Martin Luther king school was shut down there is no record of it still in East St.Louis school systems.
East St.Louis High is still not the greatest school in the are in this site it received a public rating of a 1 out of 10.
Still remains overcrowded, but the student teacher ratio is a bout 19:1 which has improved.
In 1994 the state took control and hired a financial-oversight panel to guide the school board in financial decisions
oversight panel insisted on reserves of at least $300,000
oversight panel over ruled the school panel and would not renew the superintendent's $79,000 a year contract
In 1997 there was one of the longest teacher strikes in the country
In 1998 Nathaniel Anderson became the superintendent of schools (he grew up in East St.Louis, truly cares about the city)
The community had high hopes that he would make the school systems better.
At this point in time East St.Louis school district was the least diverse in Illinois
-student population was 99% black
The former superintendent's three years consisted of alleged corruption and management problems
Eight of the district's 25 schools are on the state's academic watch list
$80 million budget
2 high schools in district had to merge because of declining enrollment and aging facilities.
-In 2000 the 12,000 student Illinois district had posted some of the biggest gains of any system of the state.
biggest gain was 8th grade writing
even though there was a tremendous gain they were still behind the state's averages
student attendance went up by 10% within the previous year
-In 2003 William V. Roberti was hired and he closed 16 schools, layed off 1,400 employees (no teaches just aides, administrators etc.) acting superintendent; was part of Alvarez & Marsal business certified in revising businesses financially.
district paid 4.8 million dollars to this company
Many people in the community felt that they were not feeling included in decision making because they weren't
-In 2004 the Illinois board of education approved a plan to dissolve a financial oversight panel which was introduced in 1994
-In 2007 stories were being investigated by reporter from KMOV-TV that felt that East St.Louis school district had something to hide
school board set up jobs for the schools as if it were an employment agency rather than a school district
special education children were getting mistreated, but this stopped after attention was drawn to it.
East St.Louis also opened the largest middle school in the district in this same year
-In 2009, "De facto segregation remains high these days, with important implications for education," "When it comes to both housing and schools, race trumps class as the central axis upon which blacks and whites are segregated. Real solutions to the black-white achievement gap lie far beyond schools and require changes to society more broadly" (Clark, 2009)
B. Community a. Health Problems
There are more child deaths in East St. Louis than any other city in the state.
There are also more children enrolled in MC/medicaid in East St. Louis than any other city.
East St. Louis has the highest number of children with mental health problems than any other city.
Most children have elevated blood lead levels.
�*Red circles indicate the number of national priority sites as mandated by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). These sites pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure.
Monsanto ranked fifth among U.S. corporations in toxic releases with 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals discharged annually.
b. Social/ Economic Problems
Just recently they had to lay off firemen in East St.Louis; this was in the St.Louis daily.
The population is still 97% Black or African American.
Only 66% have a high school degree, and of those only 9% have a Bachelor's degree or higher.
32% have a disability status. (Is this caused by health problems?)
31% of families are below poverty level, and 35% individuals are below poverty level. This is much higher than the national average, which is 9% families and 12% individuals.
Household and individual income is still half of what the national average is.
The majority of jobs are still in education.
There us a huge distinction between East St. Louis and the neighboring city Fairview Heights- for example, Fairview heights has an abundance of playgrounds and things for kids to do, and East St. Louis has barely anywhere, though in an effort to give a playground to kids community members banded together and tried to build a playground in one day. Here are some pictures of East St. Louis compared to pictures of Fairview Heights:
As of 1990, about 40 percent of the population lived below the poverty line (Bell, A1). Unemployment nears 30 percent. The northern end of East St. Louis, in zip code 62204, is the worst of 124 zip codes in St. Louis, St. Clair, and Madison Counties. Half of the residents live in poverty, 75 percent live on welfare and two out of five children are born to a teenager
III. Burning Questions:
--Why did Martin Luther King Jr. High close down? Why didn't they just renovate it instead of shutting it down?
---Why didn't they open up more public schools instead of opening up more private schools?
--Has the government started to give more money to East St. Louis? What finally persuaded them? --What's going on with the health on individuals? Are the chemical plants still operating and poisoning the soil?
--Is the crime rate still as high?
--Are the demographics still the same or very similar?
Jaime Botelho
Makayla Proffit
I. Info from Savage Inequalities:
A. Education Problems
- Martin Luther King School was filled with sewage problems and many kids had to be evacuated.
- East St.Louis was overcrowded and students did not have enough supplies.
B. Community Problemsa. Health Problems
- The soil is polluted with chemicals surrounding the neighborhoods
- The waters nearby are all polluted from the chemical plants.
- Some houses have lead paint and there have been cases of lead poisoning.
b. Social Problems- East St. Louis is secluded from the rest of society, and residents were at one point not even allowed to cross the bridge to the neighboring white town.
- The children were fully aware of what was going on in the world around them.
- Some of the kids talked about their friend and sister being raped and killed like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
- The government itself wouldn't help with the funding of the schools unless the black mayor stepped down (even racism in the political aspects).
- The environment as a whole is no place for children.
- The nicest buildings were bars, strip clubs and whore houses.
II. New Info:A. Education
- Martin Luther king school was shut down there is no record of it still in East St.Louis school systems.
- East St.Louis High is still not the greatest school in the are in this site it received a public rating of a 1 out of 10.
- Still remains overcrowded, but the student teacher ratio is a bout 19:1 which has improved.
- In 1994 the state took control and hired a financial-oversight panel to guide the school board in financial decisions
- oversight panel insisted on reserves of at least $300,000
- oversight panel over ruled the school panel and would not renew the superintendent's $79,000 a year contract
- In 1997 there was one of the longest teacher strikes in the country
- In 1998 Nathaniel Anderson became the superintendent of schools (he grew up in East St.Louis, truly cares about the city)
- The community had high hopes that he would make the school systems better.
- At this point in time East St.Louis school district was the least diverse in Illinois
-student population was 99% black- The former superintendent's three years consisted of alleged corruption and management problems
- Eight of the district's 25 schools are on the state's academic watch list
- $80 million budget
- 2 high schools in district had to merge because of declining enrollment and aging facilities.
-In 2000 the 12,000 student Illinois district had posted some of the biggest gains of any system of the state.- biggest gain was 8th grade writing
- even though there was a tremendous gain they were still behind the state's averages
- student attendance went up by 10% within the previous year
-In 2003 William V. Roberti was hired and he closed 16 schools, layed off 1,400 employees (no teaches just aides, administrators etc.) acting superintendent; was part of Alvarez & Marsal business certified in revising businesses financially.- district paid 4.8 million dollars to this company
- Many people in the community felt that they were not feeling included in decision making because they weren't
-In 2004 the Illinois board of education approved a plan to dissolve a financial oversight panel which was introduced in 1994-In 2007 stories were being investigated by reporter from KMOV-TV that felt that East St.Louis school district had something to hide
- school board set up jobs for the schools as if it were an employment agency rather than a school district
- special education children were getting mistreated, but this stopped after attention was drawn to it.
- East St.Louis also opened the largest middle school in the district in this same year
-In 2009, "De facto segregation remains high these days, with important implications for education," "When it comes to both housing and schools, race trumps class as the central axis upon which blacks and whites are segregated. Real solutions to the black-white achievement gap lie far beyond schools and require changes to society more broadly" (Clark, 2009)B. Community
a. Health Problems
- There are more child deaths in East St. Louis than any other city in the state.
- There are also more children enrolled in MC/medicaid in East St. Louis than any other city.
- East St. Louis has the highest number of children with mental health problems than any other city.
- Most children have elevated blood lead levels.
- Monsanto ranked fifth among U.S. corporations in toxic releases with 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals discharged annually.
b. Social/ Economic Problems�*Red circles indicate the number of national priority sites as mandated by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). These sites pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure.
III. Burning Questions:
--Why did Martin Luther King Jr. High close down? Why didn't they just renovate it instead of shutting it down?
---Why didn't they open up more public schools instead of opening up more private schools?
--Has the government started to give more money to East St. Louis? What finally persuaded them?
--What's going on with the health on individuals? Are the chemical plants still operating and poisoning the soil?
--Is the crime rate still as high?
--Are the demographics still the same or very similar?
References: